Toby Harnden was the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC, from 2006 to 2011. Click here for Toby's website. Follow him on Twitter here @tobyharnden and on Facebook here. He is the author of the bestselling book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story Britain's War in Afghanistan.

As John Marshall of TPM noted the other day, these endorsements aren't getting the attention they deserve. Yes, endorsements don't usually in themselves persuade voters. But in this case they are important indicators that key Democratic figures believe Hillary could well lose it's almost like watching the political futures market. And in the case of MacCaskill, Nelson and Napolitano, it shows that there's a feeling out there amongst some top Democrats that Obama can carry the red states that Hillary might lose to the Republicans.

Vermont, home of Ben and Jerry and gay marriage (though Ben and Jerry are not betrothed, I hasten to add), is certainly not a red state. Beyond these shores, Leahy is probably best known for having been told by Dick Cheney to go and do something anatomically impossible on the Senate floor (though he didn't specify he actually had to do it on the Senate floor).

But love or loathe the liberal lion, Leahy (that's enough alliteration. ed.) is a major figure in the Senate and the Democratic party. During the conference call, he compared his support for Obama to his previous decisions to back John F. Kennedy in 1960 when "we had the great experience nobody doubted the great experience of Lyndon Johnson" and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.Â

"Barack Obama is the best candidate to reintroduce America to the world and restore hope in our country," he said. "Barack Obama represents the America we once were and want to be again. When Barack Obama is President we will lead with hope, opening the doors of opportunity to all, realising the potential of our great nation for its citizens and as a leader of the free world.Â Barack Obama will be a President who once again believes, 'Yes, we can',"Â Â Â